


The Great Outdoot

by Czeriah



Series: Zelink Month 2018 [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Agoraphobia, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Most of the champions are named, PTSD, canon major character death are mentionned, fluff and angst really, link loves zelda so much, post calamity, to be fair it's actually really cute i think, with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 22:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15567915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Czeriah/pseuds/Czeriah
Summary: Zelda is copping with her trauma and link is worried.[Omg someone stop me from these awful summaries, I swear the story is better....<<]





	The Great Outdoot

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my takes on the 4th entry for Zelink Week 2018 on Tumblr ! More angsty than the previous one.   
> I actually really like this one.
> 
> As always, not native english speaker yadayada, sorry for the mistakes yadayada.
> 
> Enjoy your reading !

 

Link was worried. 

A couple of months have passed since he and the princess,  _ Zelda,  _ had brought down the calamity.

At first, Zelda had been mostly recovering from her hundred years battle.

He remember her face when he answered her question with an embrace, he has been so relieved and happy to finally be able to hold her again. Her voice in his ears, telling him all the things she had waited so long to finally tell him, the weight of her arms around his neck, the soft press of her lips on his forehead, on his cheeks, on his lips….  
His relief had been short, since she collapsed of exhaustion mere minutes after that, the constant use of her power having physically drained her and without the rush of adrenalin to keep her from falling apart.  
He had painfully put her on his horse, climbing behind her as quick as he could and had taken the route toward his house in Hateno.

She had not woken up at all for three days.

At the start of the second one, a devastating fear had taken hold of the hero that she might never woke up. What would he do if she was to stop breathing ? What would be his purpose now? Keeping her safe was all he could see himself do, is wasn't like the people of Hyrule needed a hero without a calamity to defeat.  
At loss for solution, he had made his way toward Kakariko to ask Impa for her input, letting Bolson keep watch on the princess.  
The elder, as calm and helpful as always, had just send him back with an advice :

_ “If she’s still asleep by tomorrow, wake her up to make her drink and eat. Once she’s done that, just let her sleep.” _

Sheepishly he had made his way back with the help of the slate. He had been a little ashamed of his panic but he had discovered that his mind was not all that rational when it came to the sleeping blond in his bed.  
It had taken almost a month before she felt apt doing more than sleeping and feeding herself, all the while repeating to him that he didn't have to help her.

“Nonsens, sunshine. I failed you once, let me help you now.” He whispered one night, kissing her forehead softly.

He missed the sadness that took over her eyes and the tears that disappeared into their pillow.

 

***

 

Another month had passed without much incident, until one day she was trying to climb down the stairs alone, and failing. Link had caught her before her body met the hard floor.

“Zelda ! Are you alright ? What happened ? Do you feel weak ? Are you hurt ?” He was fussing, he knew it, but she had been so silent lately, even more than him, and he could stop himself from worrying.

It’s all it took for her to finally burst at the seam.

“Why are you wasting your time with me! I'm worthless, I've let everybody down. You should have just let me in that field...I can't even walk by myself…”

She was crying now, her arms trying to push him away from her, but her hand was gripping his arms so hard he was sure to Get bruises.

“Listen Zelda. I remember. You, me, your father,  **_Us._ ** So stop telling me not to care. I  _ love  _ you even when you don't love yourself. I remember how much researched you made, you try to tell them that we weren't prepared enough, your father just never listened to you. He was so certain to be right. You did all you could, we all did. Nothing could have prevented what happened. Stop diminishing the sacrifice that we all had to make, including yours.”

She stood speechless, her bright green eyes filled with sorrow.

“How. How can you love me when I killed them all ? Mipha is gone, she was your best friend...Daruk, Revali...Urbosa…”

Her voice cracked on the chieftain name. The gerudo had been like a mother to her after the queen had passed.

“You didn’t kill them, Zelda. The calamity,  _ Ganon _ , did.”

He watched her crumble, her eyes filling with tears. He was next to her when she collapsed, sobbing harder than the last time. He cradled her against his chest, she felt like a little bird, fiddle like glass and shivering.

She had cried for a long time, and he held her for just as much.

 

***

 

After that, she had seemed to be a little better. Eating seemed to be less of a struggle, as was taking care of herself in general. He could see her cheeks filling a little and her skin looking healthier by the day.

Another month passed and Link started worrying again.

“Zel ? When is the last time you went outside?”

He had waited as long as he could before asking the question. He saw her freezing, hands in the sink where she was washing some fresh tomatoes. Her voice was strained and higher pitched than usual when she answered.

“What do you mean ? I went to the garden to pick the vegetables this afternoon.”  
“That I know, I was with you. When was the last time you went out by yourself? Have you  visited the village without me since you arrived ?”  
“I….ye….no…”

Link rose up from the chair he was seating in and approached his lover slowly, like she was a wild animal he needed to tame. He slowly arrived behind her and grabbed her gently by the hips to press her against him.

”Zelda, talk to me. What is going on?”

Her hand dropped the fruits she was holding to cover her face, hiding the tears that had made their way out of her eyes.  
The sob she let out was heartbreaking. The hero held her closer and waited patiently for her to be ready to talk.

“I'm so scared Link.” she paused.

He knew of her nightmares, he had some too. They had talk about it but she had stayed vague about some of them.  _ You can tell me when you're ready _ , he had told her,  _ don't force yourself, it will make it worse. _ Maybe he should have insisted. But what experience did he have beside his own ? And it's not like he had been a model to follow in term of coping mechanisms.

“What are you scared of, sunshine?”  
“...Everything.”

It hasn't been more than a breath. He wanted to hold her closer but this wasn't enough space between them for that anymore. He wanted to shield her from everything. He wanted to get back the bubbly teenager she has once been, the one that had helped him be a better person a hundred years ago.  
But he couldn't. He loved her just as much, but he still missed the girl she has once been.  
A long time passed before she talked again, her voice just above a whisper. 

“I'm scared of the sun. I'm scared of the space around me. I used to hate being inside of the castle. The walls, so high, it was like they would swallow me whole, but now...now...The sky is so bright, so endless. And everything is so empty. We used to meet so many people on the road, the sky was full of Rito, the rivers filled with Zoras.” She paused, the sobs too strong to continue for a while. “Do you even remember that your parents used to live here? We came to visit them once, it was on our route. There used to be so many more people, the village is not even half the size that he was then….”

As much as he said he remembered, they both knew there were still gaping holes in his memories. What hasn’t come back was very likely lost forever now, even if he sometime had some glimpses of faces or places.  
He didn’t remember his parents, or where they had lived, but he did remember some of the peoples they used to meet on the road. He’s had time to coped with the grief in the time it took him to prepared himself for the battle with the Calamity, Zelda hadn’t had this chance. He had recover his memories slowly, she never had the luxury of forgetting.  
The emptiness must have been a choc to her.

He realised suddenly why it had taken him so long to realise something was wrong. She always came with him when she had to go outside, and the few time they went farther than the village had been at the very beginning of their stay.

“Zel, I think we should go travelling.”  
“What ? no. Link. I can’t. I can’t go out and face….”  
“Face what, sunshine ? The world that we saved? You need to see by yourself that not all is lost. Yes, the population isn’t as big as before, the castle is in shamble, but Love, Hyrule is prosperous. You need to meet Sidon, and the other Zoras, some of them will even remember you, that’s the only thing you need to face.”

He stepped out of their embrace, making her turn around until he could see her face. His hands cradled her face.   
First, he kissed her lips, his eyes looking into her leaning his forehead against hers.

“I’m not saying we go tomorrow my love. But you need to see how beautiful Hyrule is. You need to rediscover your country.” he kissed her again. “And even if tomorrow, the great outdoor is only our garden, or the pound just outside the village, I’ll be right next to you while you face it.

Her arms snaked around his neck, bringing him closer again, dropping a small peck on his cheek.

_ “A silent princess never survive in captivity. It’s natural habitat is the wilderness.  _ That’s something you told me yourself a hundred years ago. _ ” _

He could feel her smile spreading against his cheeks, and he then knew that she would be alright.

They would both be. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again if you made it all the way down here ! don't hesitate to come say Hi on my tumblr(s) (Czeriah/Czeriahshiptank) !
> 
> I'm not sure i'll be able to write the next couple of prompt, i'm struggling to find inspiration....and my holidays ends on wednesday. Add to that i move to a new appartement the same week....might be a tad complicated for me to write... 
> 
> Anyway, let me know if you've liked it ;)


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